Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez knew the Celtics would come into the Barclays Center determined to make a statement on Wednesday night.
“You know what usually happens, right? A team loses, and it comes back the next game,” Fernández said. “Especially champions. They come back, and they want to make a statement. So, we have to be ready for that.”
Boston delivered.
Was it perfect? No. But after their worst loss of the season to the Atlanta Hawks – a game where they gave up 20 offensive rebounds and committed 20 turnovers, something that’s only happened four times in the past 15 and a half years – the Celtics bounced back with a 139-114 win over the Brooklyn Nets, setting a new season-high for points scored.
“Back to back, obviously, heavy legs and stuff like that. It took a little bit to get settled into the game. But, great adjustment, great response,” Jaylen Brown said after the game. “We gave up a lot of layups early, and it was just about guarding your yard. It was just about being physical, being tough and embracing that. Teams are going to try to just go at you, and you’ve got to be ready.”
The Celtics once again stumbled out of the gates, falling behind by as many as 13 in the first quarter. It marked the fourth game out of their last five in which they faced a double-digit deficit.
But they didn't let it grow.
Boston closed the final 2:15 of the first quarter on a 14-5 run behind 11 points from Jayson Tatum. The run cut the Brooklyn lead to just two and seized control for the green, who outscored the hosts 107-80 over the final three quarters.
Less than 24 hours after Brown said he and Tatum needed to step up, they followed through with a strong performance, leading the way for Boston with Tatum posting a monster stat line of 36 points, nine rebounds, and 10 assists, and Brown finishing with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists. Together, they combined for 60 points, 21 rebounds, and 14 assists while providing some rock-solid defense.
“It starts with them,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said postgame. “Taking responsibility — but taking responsibility as far as what needs to be done on the floor. They played at a high level on both ends of the floor, defensively, their communication, the accountability on their individual defense, and then offensively, taking the shots they want to take, and getting the ball where it needs to get to. So it’s a credit to them. They know how important their two-way basketball on both ends of the floor is for our success.”
The Celtics also got a big lift from Payton Pritchard, whom Mazzulla turned to earlier than usual after Derrick White, very uncharacteristically, picked up two fouls and turned the ball over three times in the first three and a half minutes.
Upon checking in, the Sixth Man of The Year favorite played the entire remainder of the first half—nearly 21 minutes—finishing with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting (71.4%) from the field and 3-of-5 (60%) from deep, along with five rebounds and five assists. His 13 points were more than Brooklyn’s entire bench unit (11).
“Payton has been excellent,” Jaylen Brown said. “He’s been great, & that’s what we need. He’s been a superstar in his role. Like now, it’s kind of expected because he’s done it so much, and he’s done it so well.”
“Payton is super important,” added Tatum. “I think he’s having the best start of his career. I think being so aggressive off the bench. A lot of times, he changes the course of the game. If we have a lead, he extends it. Like, in Milwaukee, he kept us in the game in that first half. That’s just so important and shows how valuable everybody on our team is. That we need everybody. There are going to be games where, unfortunately, we might not start the way that we want to – and we got Sam, and Luke, and Payton coming off the bench, and they just change how we play. I think we’ve probably got the best bench in the league. We’ve got guys that would be starting on most other teams. I just hope Payton continues to play with the confidence that he has because he makes us a better team.”
While the Celtics got some big-time contributions, more importantly, they got back to playing their game. They outshot the Nets by 93-79 (+14), outrebounded them 45-34 (+11), and had five fewer turnovers. They also hit more threes, knocked down more free throws, and assisted on 70% (35) of their 50 made shots, setting a new season-high.
“As far as our attitude and bounce back, I thought that was important,” Mazzulla said. “There is going to be ebbs and flows throughout the season. I care more about how we respond to things when they don’t go our way, and I like the approach that we had to the game today on both ends of the floor.”
Boston corrected its mistakes, which is exactly what great, mature teams do. That ability — fixing errors and preventing things from spiraling — has become a hallmark of these Celtics. Over the past two seasons, they haven’t lost more than two games in a row and have only dropped back-to-back games four times. Including the playoffs, they are 20-4 following a loss.
“Just being in the league for seven seasons now, the NBA is like a roller coaster,” Tatum said. “You can’t get too high on wins or too low on losses. Not saying that you sweep them under the rug — You acknowledge what transpired and why you lost, and we did that. We’re all professionals. We knew that we could have played better. We talked about some things. But the sign of a really good team is how you respond.”
That they did.
And that’s what was needed from a team that had struggled to meet their standards over the past week despite posting a 2-1 record.
“It’s just a matter of just having an understanding of where we are at and what we need to do to get better,” said Mazzulla. “Just because you don’t play well doesn’t mean it’s broken. It’s just a process day in and day out. Just got to commit to it. Got to do it. So we’re in the process of fine-tuning that and building that commitment towards the process of winning every day.”
The process of winning lies in those margins that cost them the game in Atlanta and helped win them the game in Brooklyn. Those areas, along with the word written in bold, gray-outlined letters on Mazzulla’s sweatshirt during his Wednesday night press conference — "mindset" — are key to the Celtics' approach to winning.
Wednesday night marked a step in the right direction in reestablishing that commitment to their winning approach. The next challenge is maintaining that focus consistently, for a full 48 minutes and beyond.
“Nothing is ever fixed, Mazzulla said. “It’s a process, and I think that’s what we’re trying to get at: nothing is ever fixed. So, the habits, you got to build those. Just because you do it one day doesn’t mean you’re going to do it tomorrow. You’ve got to work at that every day. But as far as our attitude and our bounce back, I thought that was important. Again, there’s going to be ebbs and flows throughout the season. I care more about how we respond to things when they don’t go our way, and I like the approach that we had to the game today on both ends of the floor.”
Related
